Soil treating apparatus



[50] FieldofSearch................,........................... Ill/8,9,10, 1 1, 73; 239/656, 661, 672; 222/145 [56] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 1/1907 Jordanetal,................. 5/1951 Daniel DorlmanWoodbury, New York [21] Appl. No. 866,428

Oct. 7, 1969 Continuation of Ser. No. 558,307, June 17, 1966, abandoned.[45] Patented Dec. 1, 1970 United States Patent [72] inventor [22] FiledShaw...........

Assistant ExaminerStephen C. Pellegrino ABSTRACT: A complete soiltreating apparatus including means for distributing particulatematerial, means to pierce the soil to loosen and aerate the same andmeans to distribute liquids, said details being operated by a drivetransmission of the apparatus as the same moves over and relative to thesoil Tiff-3Q A0lc 7/06 11l/ll;222/145 Lawn-A-Mat Chemical & EquipmentCorporation Mineola, New York a corporation of New York [73] Assignee[54] SOIL TREATING APPARATUS 2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

[51] Int Cl Patented Dec. 1,1970

Sheet l o! 3 l \lnlllllmll'lI V IIII ll l I U 1| lll i aullwvllll lll INVENTOR DANIEL DORFMAN AT TOR NEVS.

Patented Dec. 1970 Sheet 2 or 3 ATTORNEYS.

Sheet v INVENTOR DANIEL DORFMAN ATTORNEYS.

SOIL TREATING APPARATUS This is a continuation of application Ser. No.558,307, filed June 17, 1966, now abandoned.

The present invention relates to soil-treating apparatus.

In particular, the present invention relates to apparatus of the typewhich is adapted to treat lawns and the like. In the treatment of soilof this type it is generally necessary to apply to the soil a number ofdifferent types of materials so as to properly prepare the soil for thegrowing of grass, for example. Many of these different materials are inparticulate form, while others are in liquid form, and in addition tothose materials it is of course necessary to provide the soil withsuitable seed as well as to place the soil in a suitable physicalcondition, as by piercing soil which is too dense so that it will becomelooser.

At the present time, various pieces of equipment are required to carryout all of these operations, rendering the soil treatment time consumingand expensive.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide asoil-treating apparatus which can very extensively treat the soil with awide variety of treatments during a single operation, so that the timeand costs are both reduced, while at the same time enhancing the qualityof the soil treatment.

Thus, it is one of the objects of the present invention to provide asoil-treating apparatus which is capable of simultaneously delivering tothe soil a plurality of different materials in particulate form.

Also, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatuswhich will maintain all of the various particulate materials which aredelivered to the soil at predetennined quantitative relationships onewith respect to the other, in a fully automatic manner.

Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide asoil-treating apparatus which can deliver to the soil liquid treatingmaterial as well as particulate treating material, both the liquid andthe particulate materials being simultaneously delivered with theapparatus of the invention.

In addition, it is an object of the invention to provide an apparatuswhich is capable not only of simultaneously treating the soil with bothdifferent particulate materials and at least one liquid material, butwhich .in addition is capable of simultaneously aerating the soil, as bypiercing it with suitable piercing elements, and which in addition isalso capable of simultaneously delivering seed to the soil to becompacted into the upper surface portion of the soil simultaneously withf the treatment of the soil, so that all of the operations can be veryquickly and effectively carried out.

The objects of the present invention also include an apparatus which iscapable of taking advantage of the pulling power provided for pullingthe apparatus, by a tractor or the like, so that at least a part of thispulling power is used for the distribution of the various materials tothe soil.

Thus, in accordance with the invention the apparatus includes apluralityof containers for different particulate treating materials and a singledischarge means adapted to receive all of these materials from theplurality of containers. A plurality of conveyor means respectivelycommunicate with the plurality of containers for conveying the differentmaterials therefrom to the single discharge means, and in accordancewith the invention the plurality of conveyor means maintain thematerials respectively conveyed thereby at substantially constantpredetermined fractions of the total material discharged by the singledischarge means. This latter structure of the invention is carried by asuitable frame means which is operatively connected with rollers whichroll along and com press the soil, and this frame means is adapted to bedrawn by a tractor or the like. According to a further feature of theinvention the drive for the plurality of conveyor means is takendirectly from the rollers during rotation thereof, and also inaccordance with the invention these rollers are used as a source ofpower for other units carried by the frame means and requiring a drivefor their operation. These additional units include a pump which pumps aliquid from a tank, carried by the frame means, along a suitable conduitto be distributed therefrom to the ground, and furthermore the framemeans carries a seed-distributing unit in which is located a rotarystirrer for' stirring the seeds, this stirrer also being driven directlyfrom the rollers, so that in this way advantage is taken of the pullingpower to use some of this power for driving various units carried by theframe means. The frame means additionally carries a soil-piercing meanscapable of being displaced. at the option of the operator, to and froman operating position for piercing the ground in response to movement ofthe frame means along the ground. The structure of the invention furtherincludes a manually operable clutch for starting and stopping the driveof at least some of the units driven from the soil-compressing rollers.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanyingdrawings which form part of this application and in which:

HO. 1 is a partly schematic side elevation of one possible embodimentofa soil-treating apparatus according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the structure of FIG. 1 showing in dot-dashlines containers which are shown in solid lines in FIG. 1, so that inthis way the structure beneath these containers will be more clearlyillustrated;

FIG. 3 is a sectional plan view taken beneath the plane of FIG. 2 andshowing further details of the structure, FIG. 3

fragmentarily illustrating one side of the apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary transverse section taken along line 4-4 of FIG.3 in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a schematic side elevation illustrating the drive transmissionof the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary side view of the apparatus, as seen from theside thereof which is not visible in FIG. I and illustrating thestructure for actuating the soil-piercing unit, this unit being shown inits upper retracted position in FIG. 6 and in its lower operatingposition in FIG. 1.

GENERAL ORGANIZATION Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2,-the soil-treatingapparatus of the invention illustrated therein includes a frame means 10made up of an assembly of angle irons or other rigid bars and the like,all of which are welded or otherwise joined to each other so as toform-a rigid framework supporting the various components of theapparatus of the invention. At its front end the frame means 10 isoperatively connected with a hitching bar 12 of conventionalconstruction capable of being hitched to the rear end of a tractor, forexample, so that in this way during travel of the tractor the apparatuswill be pulled along the ground.

The frame means 10 includes lower horizontal bars 14 which adjacenttheir rear ends fixedly carry brackets 16 which carry a transverse shaft18 extending transversely across the frame means. This shaft 18 extendsthrough a pair of rollers 20 which are situated in side by side relationbetween the side frame members 14 extending downwardly below the latterso as to engage and rest on the soil. These rollers 20 are relativelymassive, heavy rollers which by engaging the ground will compact andsmooth the soil during pulling of the frame means I0 therealong.

This frame means 10 is maintained at the substantially horizontalattitude shown in FIG. 1 by the connection of the hitching bar 12 withthe rear end of the tractor. When the hitching bar 12 is not connectedto the tractor the entire frame means 10 with all of the structurecarried thereby can turn around the shaft 18 in a counterclockwisedirection, as viewed in FIG. 1, so that the front lower end of the framemeans 10 can than engage the ground. In order to attach the apparatus toa tractor the hitching bar 12 is raised approximately to the elevationshown in FIG. I and is connected in a conventional manner to the rearend of the tractor.

The frame means 10 carries, in the region of its front end, a materialdistributing means 22 which distributes particulate material in a mannerdescribed below. Behind the distributing means 22 for the particulatematerial is situated a seed-dis; tributing means 24 adapted to hold asupply of seeds which are evenly distributed onto the ground just inadvance of the rol- This liquid is delivered to the soil in a mannerdescribed in greater detail below. The above units, namely, theparticulate material distributing means 22, the seed-distributing means24, the soil-piercing means 26 and the liquid-distributing means 30,'areall driven by a transmission means 32, the details of which aredescribed below.

MEANS FOR DISTRIBUTING PARTICULATE MATERIAL In the particular exampleillustrated,'the distributing means '22 is capable of simultaneouslydistributing four different materials. Referring to FIGS. 2-4, the fourdifierent materials are adapted to be respectively received in fourcontainers 34, 36, 38 and 40 which are in the form of hoppers down whichthe particulate material is adapted to slide by gravity to the loweroutlet ends of thesehoppers. A single discharge means 42 is adapted todischarge all of the materials. All of the containers 34, 36,38 and 40,together with the discharge means 42 can be fonned from a' singleunitary casting.

The discharge means 42 is simply in the. form of a downwardly taperedtubular enclosure having an open top end aswell as an open bottom end,and this tubular enclosure is of a substantially rectangularconfiguration in horizontal section so that the open top end as well asthe open bottom end of the discharge means 42 are of rectangularconfiguration, as shown most clearly in FIG. 3. The sidewalls of thedischarge means 42 are thus inclined inwardly and downwardly from theopen top end to the open bottom end of the discharge means 42.

Between the containers 34,36, 38 and 40 and the single discharge means42, the outlet ends of these containers have the configuration of guideswhich extend in part along cylindersfforming hollow cylindrical guidesfor a plurality of rotary conveyor means which respectively convey theparticulate materials from the several containers to the singledischarge means 42. It is a characteristic of the plurality of conveyormeans of the invention that they will automatically maintain the severalmaterials at substantially constant fractions of the total materialdischarged by the discharge means 42. in this way a predeterminedquantitative relationship between the several materials is automaticallymaintained with the'apparatus of the invention.

The conveyor means which communicates with the con-- tainer '34 is intheform of a rotary body 44 of circular cross section having its peripheryformed with cutouts 46 (FIG. 4) which thus form buckets for receivingthe particulate material buckets, formed by cutouts in the periphery ofthe rotary body 50, into the discharge means 42. L

in much the same way a pair of rotary bodies 52 and 54 are respectivelyguided for rotation in the cylindrical guides situ-- ated at the outletends of the containers 38 and 40'respectively. Referring toFIG. the pairof rotary bodies 52 and 54 turn in a clockwise direction, as viewedin'FIG.,5, and the material in the containers 38 and 40 slides down thelower inclined wall 56 which is inclined downwardly toward the left, asviewed in FIG. 5, so that in this way the material reaches the bucketsformed by the cutouts at the outer peripheries of the rotary from thecontainer 34. This rotary body 44, which resembles a V gear in itsexterior appearance, turns in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed inFIG. 5, so that the. particulate material which slides by gravitydownwardly along the left wall 47 of the container 34, toward the right,as viewed in FIG. 5, will enter into the buckets 46. By cooperation ofthese buckets with. the cylindrical guide formed by the bottom end'ofthe in the same way, a rotary body 50 forms the conveyor meanscommunicating with the container 36, and this rotary body 50 is alsoguided by a guide which extends along part of a a cylinder and which isformed with a rectangular outlet opening 51 through which the materialdischarges from the bodies 52 and 54. Returning now'to FIG. 3, it willbe seen that v the cylindrical guides for the rotary bodies 52 and 54are respectively formed with the outlet openings 58 arid 60 throughwhich the material discharges from the buckets of the bodies 52 and 54into the discharge means 42.

As was indicated above, the containers 34, 36, 38 and 40 together withthe discharge means 42 are in the form of a single casting. This singlecasting also. includes the integral cylind'rical guidesffor the rotarybodies. The single unitary casting has a partitlonwall 61 separating thecontainer 34 from the container 36 and a similar partition wall 62 (FIG.3) separating the container 38 from the container 40..The partition 61has an integral extension 64 situated between the bodies 44 and 50 anddefining the adjacent edges of the discharge openings 48 and 51 to whichthe material is delivered from the rotary bodies 44 and 50 respectively.These discharge openings have bottom edges 66, and the elevation of thebottom edge 66 isindicated in FIG. 5, so that it is clear that thematerial'in the buckets of the rotary bodies will simply drop out ofthelatter and downwardly along the dischargemeans 42. ln the same way thepartition 62 has an integral extension 68 situated between andseparating the rotary bodies 52 and The discharge means 42 together withthe containers 34, 36, 38 and 40 have acommon upper surface 70 locatedina single horizontal plane. and on this upper surface restsa plurality ofsupply containers which hold the material .to be delivered'to thecontainers 34, 36, 38 and 40. These supply containers 72, 74,76 and 78are shown in dot-dash lines in I-IGQZ. They have'offset outlet openingswhich are respectively alined with the several containers 34, 36, 38 and.40,as shown most clearly in FIG. 2. The upper surface 70 is flush withthe upper surface of the frame meanslo, and the several enclosures 72,74, 76 and 78 simply rest on these surfaces and can be clamped thereonin any suitable way with the outlets 80 respectively communicating withand situated'over the several.

inclined wall 56 extends downwardly across the lower right portion ofthe container 38.

The pair of conveyor means 44 and 50 are fixedly mounted on a commondrive shaft 82, while the pair of conveyor means 52' and 54 are fixedlycarried by a' common drive shaft 84.

Thus, the conveyors 44 and 50 will necessarily have the same 7 speed ofrotation, and the conveyors 52 and 54 which is different from that ofconveyors 44 and 50, as pointed out below, have the same speed ofrotation. However, the' size of the buckets formed in the periphery ofthe conveyor 50 may be different from the size of the buckets 46 formedin the periphery of the conveyor 44, and in the same way the size of thebuckets formed in the periphery of the conveyor 52 may be different fromthe size of all the other buckets, while the size of the buckets of theconveyor 54 also may be different from the size of all member buckets.ln addition, the shafts 82 and 84 are maintained at speeds of rotationwhich have a predetermined relationship with respect to each other.

As a result of these features a predetermined substantially constantquantitative relationship will be maintained between the severalmaterials delivered to the single discharge means 42. Thus, although theconveyors 44 and 50 rotate at the same speed, the different sizes-oftheir buckets will maintain a given quantitative relationship betweenthe materials in the containers 34 and 36. Also, the different size ofthe buckets of the conveyor 52 as compared to those of the conveyor 54will maintain a given quantitative relationship between the materialsconveyed from the containers 38 and 40. On the other hand, thepredetermined speeds of rotation of the shafts 82 and 84 will providefor the materials conveyed by the conveyors 44 and 50 a givenquantitative relationship with respect to the materials conveyed by theconveyors 52 and 54. Thus, both by the speed of rotation of the shaft 82as contrasted with the speed of rotation of the shaft 84, as well as bythe construction of the conveyors themselves, it is possible to maintainin a fully automatic manner a predetermined quantitative relationshipbetween the several materials all of which discharge through thedischarge means 42. In this way the structure of the invention iscapable of maintaining, through the several conveyor means of theinvention, all of the materials respectively conveyed thereby atpredetermined substantially constant fractions of the total materialwhich is discharged by the discharge means 42.

FIG. 1 shows the containers 72 and 78 mounted on the frame, and ofcourse the containers 74 and 76 are situated behind the containers 72and 78, respectively, as viewed in FIG. 1.

Because of the relatively small size of the bottom outlet end of thesingle discharge means 42, it is advisable to provide a structure forbroadcasting and spreading the particulate material dropping from thedischarge means 42, before this material reaches the ground. For thispurpose a rotary shaft 86 extends downwardly through the discharge means42 along its vertical axis. This rotary shaft 86 is driven by a motorand transmission unit 88 which is mounted on the frame over thedischarge means 42 between the containers 72, 74, 76 and 78 in themanner shown most clearly in FIG. 5. This unit 88 can be any suitableelectric motor driven from the battery of the tractor, for example, andthrough a suitable transmission it rotates the shah 86 at a given speed.The containers 72, 74, 76 and 78 have in the region of the unit 88 aconfiguration which clears and accommodates this unit.

At its bottom end, which is situated beneath the lower outlet opening ofthe discharge means 42, the shaft 86 fixedly carries a flat rotary disk90 situated in a. plane which is substantially horizontal andperpendicular to the axis of the discharge means 42. At its upper facethe plate 90 carries suitable radially disposed ribs 92. With thisconstruction the material dropping from the discharge means 42 will'bereceived on the upper face of the rotating plate 90, which as a resultof its rotation and as a result of guiding derived from the ribs 92,will centrifugally throw and evenly distribute the particulate materialacross the soil beneath the frame means in advance of the rollers 20. lnthis way, the several materials which are maintained at a givenquantitative relationship with respect to each other in the mannerdescribed above are distributed on the soil over a relatively large areabeneath the frame means 10. The rate at which the material is deliveredto the disk 90 and the speed of rotation thereof are designed so thatthe material will be thrown across a path having a width in excess ofthe width of the frame means 10. Therefore, as the frame means 10 isguided in several passes back and forth across the soil, a thoroughuniform distribution of the materials will be provided, with each passof the frame across the soil resulting in an equal overlapping and evenbroadcast of material at least partially covering that laid down duringthe prior pass.

SEED-DISTRIBUTING MEANS The frame means 10 carries behind the containers76 and 78 the seed-distributing means 24 in the form of a suitablecontainer 94 (FIG. 1) into which the seed can be supplied. Thiscontainer 94 has a lower inclined wall 96 (FlG. 1) which is inclinedforwardly and downwardly and which communicates with an outlet opening99 which is positioned immediately above the rotating plate to assureeven and thorough broadcast of seeds onto the ground by the rotatingplate. To facilitate the movement of the seeds from the container 94,its transversely spaced sides and wall opposite the wall 96 all convergetowards the outlet opening 99 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The outletopening 99 may be covered and uncovered by a covering element (notshown) to control the dispensing of material from the container 94. Furthermore. as is shown in F lGS. 2 and 3, there is situated in theregion of the bottom end and transversely of the container 94. a rotaryscrew member 98 which forms a stirrer which continuously loosens theseeds which flow by gravity to the bottom outlet of the container 94.This rotary screw stirrer 98 is fixedly carried by a rotary shaft 100which extends through the side walls of the container 94 outwardlybeyond the latter to the opposite sides of the frame 10.

Thus, as the frame 10 is advanced along the ground not only can severalmaterials be distributed to the ground by the material distributingmeans 22, but in addition seed can be distributed from the container 94.The manner in which the shafts 82, 84 and 100 are driven is described ingreater detail below.

SOlL-PlERClNG MEANS As has been indicated above, the frame means 10 ofthe invention also carries a soil-piercing means 26 which is situated ata lower part of the frame just in back of the bottom outlet end 99 ofthe seed-distributing means 24. This piercing means 26 includes aplurality of disks 102 spaced transversely along the width of the frame10 and which have at their peripheries relatively sharp, pointed fingers104 forming ground-piercing blades which are capable of entering intoand moving out of the ground during rolling of the disks 102 in responseto advance of the frame means 10 when it is pulled by the tractor. Inthis way, when the piercing means 26 operates it is capable of looseningand aerating soil which has become compacted to an undesirable extent.

The several disks 102 are loosely mounted on a shaft 106, and betweenthe several disks 102 are located coil springs 108 (F IGS. 2 and 4)which are coiled about shaft 106. Thus, while these springs 108 serve asyieldable spacers maintaining the toothed disks 102 at predeterminedtransverse distances from each other, nevertheless in response toobstructions encountered by the teeth or fingers 104 these disks 102 canyield due to their loose mounting of the shaft 106, the springs 108giving way for this purpose and then acting to return the severalground-piercing disks 102 back to their initial positions.

The ends of the shaft 106 are respectively mounted in bracket 110 whichis pivotally mounted on a pin 112 carried by a bracket 113 extendingdownwardly from the horizontal side frame members 14, as indicated inFlG. 1. FIG. 6 shows the pin 112 and bracket 110 at the side of theapparatus opposite from that shown in FIG. 1.

The bracket 110 of FIG. 6 has distant from the shaft 106 a pivotalconnection 111 with a link 116, and this link is in turn pivotallyconnected at 117 with a rocker arm 118 which is pivoted on a pin 120carried by a bracket 122 on the side bar 14, shown in FIG. 6. The onebracket 110 of FIG. 6 is duplicated on the reverse hand to the otherbracket 110 at the side of the apparatus which is shown in H0. 1. At theside of the apparatus shown in FIG. 6 the pivot pin 117 whichinterconnects the links 116 and 118 is also connected to an elongatedrod 124 having a slotted portion receiving a pin 126 cc centricallycarried by a rotary pinion 128, so that the pin 126 acts as a crank pin.

During rotation of the pinion 128, which is supported for rotation byany suitable bearing structure carried by the frame means 10, the link124 will be pulled up to the dotted line position shown in FIG. 6,causing the pair of arms 116 and 118 also to be pulled up, and the partsare shown in this upper position in FIG. 1. The result is that thebracket 110 swings in and of course these brackets will remain inalinement with' 'each other. When the pinion 128 is turned so as tosituate the bar'124at the-position shown in solid lines in FIG. 6, thepierc- "ing nieans will be retracted to its upper inactive positionfshwn inFIGL 6;

In order to actuate. the piercing means the pinion 128 meshes with anelongated rack 130 supported for-longitudinal 'movementby any suitableguides and situated at one side of the frame IO-adjacentits front'end,as indicated at the upper left pbrtion of FIG. 2. A hydraulicpiston-and-cylinder assembly 132 is carried by. the frame and isoperatively connected withone end of the rack 130 for longitudinallydisplacing the rack in response to introduction and withdrawal of thehydraulioliquidinto-and out'of the cylinder of the assembly 132. Ahydraulic pressure conduit 134 extends-from the unit 132' toithjetractor where ithas a releasable connection witha valvecominunicatingwith a source of liquid under pressure land'cap'ableof-beingactuated by the operator so as to ad fi ance'or retractthepiercing means 26 to or from its operating positiomLIQUID-DISTRIBUTING MEANS As has been'indicated above; the frame means10 carries at its rear end a-liquid distributing means 30 which includesa tank-'28-for a-liquid'whieh is to be distributed. This tank 28 .can

be supplied with'liquidfrom any suitable source. As shown at the upperright portion-of'FlG. 1, in a schematic manner, a pump 1'40. carried bya'suitable support 142, which'is mounted on the frame 10,. communicateswith the interior of the tank 28 to withdraw the liquid therefrom, andthis liquid is delivered under pressure'to a conduit 144 through whichthe liquid under pressure flowsfrom the pump 140 toward the front of thetractor. Thus, the drawings show the'conduit 144 extending forwardlybeyond the front end of the frame means .10. and this conduit 144.terminates in the region of a suitable part of the tractor in a sprayheadfrom which the liquid-is sprayed across the path covered by thetractor and the apparatus'of the invention. Thus, when the apparatus ofthe in vention is attached to the tractor, not only is the hitching part12 connected to a rear end of the tractor, but in addition; the pressureconduit 134 is connected with the valve of the source of hydraulicliquid under pressure and the conduit 144 is connected with the sprayhead which is carried by the tractor. The tank 28 is indicated indot-dash lines in FIG. 2.

oRn/E TRANSMISZSION JWiththe exception of the rotary disk 90, whichreceives its owndrive from the' motor-transmission assembly 88, asdescribed above, all of the several units carried by the frame means 10are driven from the rollers 20 in response to rotary movement thereof.For this purpose the pair of rollers 20 fixany carry at their outer endwalls a pair of coaxial sprocket wheels 150 which respectively mesh witha pair of endless chains 152 situated at the opposite sides of theframe. These chains 152 extend around. sprocket wheels 154 fixedlymounted on the rotary shaft100, so that in this way there is a directtransmission of the drive to the shaft 100 so as torotatetheIseed-stirring screw 98. At the side of the apparatus which isshown in FIG. 3, the

I shaft 100 carries an additional sprocket 156'which is fixed to theshaft 100 for rotation therewith, and this sprocket 156 meshes'with anendless'chain 158. This chain 158 extends "along one side of the frameand is received on a front sprocket E160 which is fixed with one half162 of a dog clutch 164. The

unit'lfll, 162 is freely turnable -on a transverse shaft 166 whichextends across the front of the frame and which is supported forrotation by any suitable bearing structure. The

other half 168 of the dog clutch 164 is slidably keyed on the shaft 166,and a shifting fork 170, diagrammatically indicated in FIG. 5, extendsinto the groove 172 of the shiftable clutch member 168 so that theoperator at the rear end of the tractor can easily reach the shiftingfork 170, which has a suitable lever accessible to the operator. Theshifting of the fork 170 along the shaft 166 will displace the clutchhalf 168 into or out of engagement with the clutch half 162. The clutchhalf 162 of course rotates continuously aslong as the rollers 20 turn,but the rotation is transmitted to the shaft 166 only when the clutchhalf 168 is shifted into engagement with the clutch half 162. s

The shaft 166 carries a pair of sprocket wheels 174 (FIGS. 2 and 3)which mesh with a pair of endless chains 176 situated on opposite sidesof the material distributing means 22. These diameter than the sprockets178. These chains 176 then ex-- tend from the top ends of the sprockets180 around a pair of sprockets 182 which are freely turnable onthe shaft100 and which are prevented from shifting axially therealong by anysuitable collars or the like. The endless chains 176 then extend fromthe upper part of the sprockets 182-horizontally back to therupper partsof the sprockets 174. Thus, it will be seen that with this transmissionthe shaft 84 will necessarily be turned at a higher speed of rotationthan the shaft 82 so that in this way part of the quantitativerelationship between the several materials delivered by the materialdistributing means 22 is achieved. Of course, the drive is transmittedto the shafts 82 and 84only when the clutch 164 is engaged, and thisdrive can be interrupted whenever the clutchis disengaged. At the sametime it will be noted that the drive for the shaft 100 is dependent onthe drive for distributing means 22, so that the clutch 164 controls thematerial distributing means 22 and also the seed-distributing means 24.

'- The drive for the pump 140 is achieved from a pair of friction wheels190 which frictionally engage the rollers 20 at their upper surfaceportions. These friction wheels 190 are fixed to a shaft 192 supportedin suitable bearings for rotary movement, these bearings being connectedto the frame 10 in the manner shown most clearly in FIG. 1. Thus, thefriction wheels 190 will both act to turn the shaft 192, and the wheel190 which is visible in FIG. 1 frictionally cooperates with a drivewheel for the pump 140 so as to rotate an impeller or rotor thereof andthus produceithe pumping action.

Therefore, with the drive transmission 32-of the present invention, thepump 140 will be driven whenever the rollers 20 turn, and a suitablevalve at the spray head connected to the front end of the conduit 144can be actuated'by the operator for controlling the spray of liquid. Thewheel 190 shown in FIG. 1 can through'a suitable transmission rotate animpeller of a centrifugal pump which forms the pump 140, so that thisimpeller can simply turn freely even though liquid is prevented fromdischarging from the conduit 144. A suitable safety valve may beprovided for limiting the pressure. Also, whenever the rollers 20 turnthe seed stirrer 98 turns.

' FIG. 1.

Thus, with this relatively simple, compact structure of the invention itis possible to achieve a wide variety of treatments all taking placesimultaneously in a precisely determined manner, with a considerablepart of the energy derived from the pulling of the apparatus utilizednot only for pulling the apparatus along the soil, so that it would becompacted bythe rollers 20, but in addition for the purpose of drivingthe various components in the manner described above. By situating therollers 20 at the rear of the apparatus the last operation is asmoothing and compacting of the soil.

l claim:

1. A soil-treating apparatus comprising a frame, at least two adjacentstorage units for materials in particulate form sup ported on saidframe, said storage units having depending outlets therefrom bounding aclearance space therebetween, a common discharge member for saidparticulate materials formed by an outer wall bounding an unencumberedvertical passageway having an inlet opening and an outlet opening atopposite ends, means supporting said discharge member on said frame in adepending position from said clearance space, conveyor means arrangedbetween said common discharge member inlet opening and said storage unitoutlets so as to be operatively effective to convey a quantity ofparticulate materials from said storage units into said common dischargemember, and particulate material distributing means including a motoroperatively arranged within said clearance space above said commondischarge member inlet opening, a depending drive shaft from said motordisposed in unencumbered relation longitudinally of said verticalpassageway of said common discharge member so as to effectcircumferential movement of said particulate materials in response torotation of said drive shaft simultaneous with gravity movement of saidparticulate materials through said vertical passageway, and a scatteringplate fixedly mounted on said shaft in facing relation to said dischargemember outlet opening, whereby said shaft rotation operates saidscattering plate to effect distribution of said particulate materialsand also contribute to mixing thereof within said vertical passageway ofthe common discharge member preparatory to said distribution.

2. The combination in a soil-treating apparatus as defined in claim 1wherein additional storage units are arranged adjacent said two storageunits in circumferential relation to said discharge station.

Disclaimer 3,544,013.Dam'el Dorfman, Vvoodbury, N.Y. SOIL TREATING APPA-RATUS. Patent dated Dec. 1, 1970. Disclaimer filed Aug. 6, 1971, by theassignee, Lawn-A-Mat Chemical d2 Equipment Corporation. Hereby entersthis disclaimer to all of the claims of said patent.

[Ofilcial Gazette November 2, 1971.]

